The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Tuesday donated Information and Communications Technology (ICT) equipment to the University of Juba and the National Bureau of Statistics to help strengthen their digital capacity.
Speaking to reporters during a handover ceremony in Juba on Tuesday, UNDP’s Deputy Resident Representative, Operations, Blessed Chirimuta said the ICT equipment included 33 desktops and 1 projector.
He said the kit will be used in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of statistical data to inform policy and enhance research capacity.
“We are here today where UNDP is handing over 13 desktops and one projector to the National Bureau of Statistics and 20 desktops to the University of Juba’s School of Economics,” Chirimuta said. “This ICT equipment will help these two organizations to research, collect data, analysis, and disseminate the data for policy-making purposes.”
For her part, Julia Jadalla Jube, the Deputy Dean of the School of Economic and Social Studies at the University of Juba, hailed UNDP for the in-kind support, saying it will help students with research.
“This initiative is going to help not just us at the Department of Economics but also other studies in other departments,” she said. “They can benefit from this equipment in their research, updating themselves and several other things.”
Meanwhile, Isaiah Chol Aruai, the chairperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, said this is the second consignment of equipment they are receiving from UNDP and that the first consignment consisted of 32 desktops and laptops.
“I want to thank you very much for your time and for delivering much-needed equipment,” he said. “The equipment will end up in the states because we have ten state offices and most of them are there to support us at the headquarter level in terms of coordination and supporting state ministries.”